Sixers focus on defense to stop slide

Houston Rockets' James Harden, left, goes up for a shot against Philadelphia 76ers' Spencer Hawes in the first half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

PHILADELPHIA – On most nights, holding a team to 100 points won’t merit the uncorking of champagne bottles or the popping of confetti cannons. The 76ers enjoyed a bit of revelry Saturday night, even if it only came in the form of high-fives and handshakes amongst themselves.

Snapping a five-game losing streak took a backseat to the Sixers’ improved defensive performance. It’s difficult to conceive celebrating defense after permitting Houston to hit the century mark, as it did in the Sixers’ 107-100 victory, but truth be told – the Sixers stopped the Rockets when they needed to in order to keep a season-long skid from extending to a half-dozen.

“We’ve got to get some defensive identity,” said coach Doug Collins, whose team had an off day Sunday.

And the lengths to which Collins will go to find that identity were tested against Houston, with Collins sitting the sometimes hot-handed Nick Young in favor of deep sub Damien Wilkins. Collins rolled the dice, benching Young and his penchant for enigmatic shooting in order to free up some minutes for Wilkins, a savvy veteran with defense-first tendencies.

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It worked. Wilkins, along with a host of others, ganged up on Houston’s James Harden in order to keep the Rockets’ leading scorer from doing further damage than he did – scoring 29 points on 10-for-19 shooting.

“On defense, that’s really where we got it done,” said the Sixers’ Jrue Holiday, who turned in a huge night at both ends. “When it came down to it, we tried to get the ball out of (Harden’s) hands in big moments and I think we did that.”

After the final whistle, Collins lauded Jason Richardson, who along with Holiday, Wilkins and Evan Turner had a hand in limiting Harden. Coming off Wednesday’s game, in which Richardson watched from the bench, he provided the kind of defensive effort that satisfied Collins.

“(Richardson) had to go out there and defend James Harden, and that’s a tough ordeal,” Collins said.

So is holding down Houston, the league’s top-scoring team.

“That’s what we were trying to focus on, trying to pick up our defense,” Turner said. “We understand they’re a great offensive team and we came out to compete.”

The Sixers (16-22) are at a crossroads – too early in the season to draw conclusions, but not early enough to allow unsettling trends to fester.

So Collins made a move, opting for defense over offense. He played Wilkins for 11 minutes Saturday, trying to shore up a unit that had given up an average of 102.4 points per game in their recently snapped five-game losing streak – the second-most points in the league in that stretch. In that spinout, the Sixers had lost four games by at least 18 points – an unnerving margin of defeat for a coach who takes pride in defense.

That’s why it shouldn’t come as a surprise should the Sixers make personnel moves in the future that seem to value defense ahead of offense. The Sixers – who ranked second in the league a year ago in permitting 89 points per game – are ranked 12th this season in allowing 96.